News

Anti-settlement petition signed by Bernard Henri-Lévy and others
causes division in Jewish community

Associated Press

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 May 2010 17.18 BST Article historyMore than
3,000 European Jews, including prominent intellectuals, have signed a
petition speaking out against Israeli settlement policies and warning
that systematic support for the Israeli government is dangerous.

The petition's signatories include French philosopher Bernard-Henri
Lévy and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Greens leader in the European Parliament.

Supporters, who compare their goals to those of J Street, a liberal
pro-Israel Jewish lobbying group in the United States, plan to present
their position at a news conference at the European Parliament in
Brussels tomorrow.

They say they hope to build a European movement that is both
"committed to the state of Israel and critical of the current choices of
its government".

Israeli columnist Yossi Sarid, a former Cabinet minister identified
with Israel's peace movement, praised the initiative in an comment piece
published in the Haaretz daily today.

"These are people who seize every opportunity to defend Israel
publicly and remain faithful to it," he wrote. "But even their patience
is running out and their hearts are filled with sincere concern."

Israel's foreign ministry d... >>>